Self-made abberation: by Agoreyo Oghenemaro
Over time, I have heard the clamor for very strict implementation of human right laws. Here is something I have always wanted to talk about. I am one of the rigid supporters of human rights being that Africa, my continent, has a sky rocketing statistical figure of human rights abuse every year. However, let us look critically into this; find its roots and major pillars.
Children are neutral entities. They come into the world with nothing but basic knowledge needed for a somewhat short term survival. The knowledge they come in with includes that of social interaction which is in the ‘friend-happy’ mode by default. Children also learn very easily what they are continuously exposed to, be it positive or negative. In simple terms, we are a product of our environment. Not necessarily all of the time.
I have observed the African society very closely. Most Africans are proud, believe it or not. This inborn attitude of pride brings about domination and subordination. A majority of Africans are held in red hot metal chains of inferiority complex even though they might at one point or the other not want to admit it.
The aberration of withholding or trampling upon someone’s fundamental human rights starts from upbringing and mindset. Opinion is a human right. In Africa, quite a lot of children are caged, taught to be totally dependent and sometimes, treated in the most inhuman way because of the notion that they are little and are no more than properties acquired by two partners who perceive the acquisition of children as a way of fitting properly into the status quo. Yes, children are seen as properties. Parents count their children as determining factors of greatness and milestone achievements.
First, these children are taught to have no choices. No choices on what to eat, what to wear, how to wear them, what television channel to watch and what have you. Every decision is taken by a superior head or rather superior heads. Then, they are taught to feel extreme pain under the disguise of child training. No communication, no dialogues, no advices, just the rod. Ranging from whips, wooden sticks to the popular ‘koboko’, these instruments are used to inflict pain on these children for the slightest of offences. It doesn’t all end here. Our superior heads go as far as defining who these children are, constantly feeding them with violent words. They are told of how foolish they are and would ever be, told to fight vigorously whenever there is the slightest of offences. In fact, they are trained to be soldiers.
What is the consequence of all these? Children who have a mindset that the life they live is a full blown war. These are the same children who tackle arguments with knives and guns. These are the same children who get into positions of power and decide what their masses should and should not do; negative dictatorship. These are the same children who send missiles, burn down cities, and kill innocent citizens at the slightest of offences; no dialogue, no advices, just destruction.
The greatest of human right abuse come from these once little powerless children. They are all grown up now.
The aberration we see today didn’t jump from space. These killings, manning, destructions, withdrawal of human rights have come from children who were trained with the wrong mindset, children whose default mind setting has been re-set. This aberration is self made.
*-Oghenemaro*
✍🏿
No comments